Cracks and Frayed Coats
by Nerielle Tu
Summary: Miles Edgeworth is used to perfection, but somehow that entails a less than perfect woman. Edgeworth/Maya
1. Chapter 1

When Miles Edgeworth got out of bed every morning, he did so with dignity and grace. He even slept straight in bed, and hardly wrinkled his sheets. So up until he had turned 35, he almost never had to do much to get tidy.

Wake up, fold the sheets back, walk along his perfectly kept home, brush his teeth in his sparkling bathroom, prepare his usual morning tea (or coffee, if it had been one of **those** kinds of nights) and prepare for another day in the life of Miles Edgeworth.

He had grown very accustomed to these habits. And so when he was 35 he was frustrated to find many occasions where a snoring girl would ruin his routines.

Her legs would drape around the bed, ruining his perfectly crisp sheets. Her clothes were always on the floor, and he detested the sight. She always forgot to change the empty rolls of toilet paper- she was a terrible mess maker.

And yet these terrifyingly unkempt encounters kept occurring, and with frightening frequency.

And worse yet, it was affecting him. Usually perfect hair, now ruined by curling fingers. Crisp bedsheets, ruined by a girl who didn't mind making a mess. Now every time he went to make tea he found a dirty counter with dirty dishes to match. And when he pointed this all out, she ran her hands through her knotted hair and yawned.

"Oh, yeah, I guess you should clean that," and then she just walked passed him and ate more of his food.

Hungry. Insatiable. Crazy. Loud. Annoying. Vivacious. Just like always, he found himself back at a good word. He couldn't stay mad at her.

He remembered when she was young. Much younger than she was now, before her hips had taken such form. Before her cheekbones were ones he could envision caressing. He remembered when all he could see was a spirited little girl, and now he can't see that anymore.

He can only see a spirited yet terribly messy **woman.**

And each morning, she prances through far too late to his kitchen. When she is not there, when she is away on some sort of training, his house is empty. He buries himself in unorganized paperwork and keeps himself up late to forget that she is not there. But why, he always asks?

She drives him crazy. She always drags him places. Even now that she is calmer, more dignified, trained in so much more- she is still so alive. And she forces him to be too. If she were gone, by all logic he should be better off.

Yet each day when a half naked Maya Fey walks through his bathroom door to try and brush her teeth with the lights off so her eyes don't have to adjust, he smiles. And there, in his imperfect world, he pulls his wife closer and finds an acceptable balance between perfection and happiness.


	2. Hamburgers with Tea

It had started as a result of complete and utter self loathing.

Neither resented the other, instead they were filled with utter disappointment in themselves.

"Maya," Miles Edgeworth had said with familiarity as he stood in front of the now closed Wright law offices. Phoenix still lived there, but they'd both found it within their capacity to both miss Phoenix entirely and stare instead at a relic.

Twenty-two years old, the Master of the Kurain Channeling technique stood before her old place of business. The place her sister died. The place she had considered a home.

It was all true.

Edgeworth realized she hadn't heard him, but he couldn't open his mouth a second time. Just four years before this she had been involved in a case that he would never forget. Had it only taken three years for the spirited look in her eyes to have faded so much? She looked. . .graceful. Dignified. Seeing her then, he could believe that she was meant to hold the position of Master.

Then her eyes widened, and she looked at him.

"E-Edgeworth!" she cried out loudly with a very familiar face. There was Maya Fey under all that grace and dignity, still a little loud. But even as the facade of her position faded, there was still grace. Maya Fey had grown up.

"Maya," Edgeworth nodded at her. After a moment, she laughed.

"You haven't changed at all, Mr. Edgeworth!" He couldn't help but feel with the way she looked now, she really should be calling him Edgeworth instead of Mr.

"You can just call me Edgeworth, now. Afterall, you are the Master of. . ." That technique I barely believed in that nearly ruined my life, he thought inwardly. But her reaction was not something he expected. The whimsical and familiar look in her eyes died, and faded to a solemn look of emptiness. She faced the office once again.

This time, Edgeworth looked at it as well.

"I. Nick never told me. I. . .I heard from Detective Gumshoe, just today. I thought. . .I would be dropping in to tell Nick all about my success. He told me years ago- Go and become a Master, Maya! It's your destiny and I know you'll succeed!"

Edgeworth, of all people, understood how she felt.

One of his best friends. His rival. In one fell swoop Phoenix Wright lost it all and Miles Edgeworth did nothing, could DO nothing, while it happened. Wright would never use falsified evidence. He fought it behind the scenes as hard as he could, once he found out. But it was 'settled', they all declared. Settled. And he was useless once again.

"I wrote him all the time! And he just kept lying to me!" He could see tears in her eyes. And then in one instance, she was running away. She was trying to hide her tears.

Miles Edgeworth didn't know what possessed him to follow her. Maybe it was the knowledge that he too had been useless to someone who he cared for deeply. Maybe it was because he felt she had nothing to blame herself for. And, maybe, just maybe, he did not want to chance running into the man who was not the same Phoenix Wright anymore.

"Maya!" Edgeworth said sharply as she stopped at a corner, believing he had never intended to follow her. He hadn't intended to do anything of the sort, but here he was. The grown up Maya Fey had tears pouring from her eyes. At least she had the courage to cry. She turned to him with utter shock, and there was silence.

What would he say?

It's not your fault? I'm sorry I couldn't stop this from happening? How could you have known? None of these words had worked on him. Not a one. So when Edgeworth opened his mouth all he said was an unexpected question.

"Would you. . . like to have. . . tea. . . before you leave town?" Awkwardly, the words stumbled out of his mouth. Maya stopped, the surprise filling her face completely transparent.

"Make it. . .hamburgers!"

Taken aback, Miles Edgeworth wanted to give her a stupid look. But when he saw the smile on her face partially restored, he nodded.

"Hamburgers, then."


End file.
